Postseason offers another opportunity for growth

Share this:

As important as securing home-court advantage was viewed heading into the first-round series against the Portland Trail Blazers, Dwight Howard rushed to remind that it guarantees nothing.

“It’s great that we locked down home court,” Howard said. “At the same time, we can’t take this Portland team for granted. It’s not going to be an easy team to beat. Can we beat them? Yes. But we have to focus and forget about the regular season.

“We still have a lot of room for growth, so we can’t come into the playoffs thinking we’ve arrived. This is our first year together, and we have a very young team, and we have opportunities to grow. But we have to always understand that in order for us to be a great team, we have to stay humble and always be able to be coached.”

Still, on the eve of the regular-season finale, Howard had no complaints about his first campaign with the Rockets.

“I think we did good for this to be our first year all together, putting so many big pieces into one big puzzle and trying to come together,” he said. “We came together fast, and everyone here is family.”